folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) (03/30/89)
Since childhood, I have been amazed at the size of our local dialing area. Being in the Washington DC suburbs, I (roughly) calculate that I can make a local call to anywhere in a 500-square-mile area. If you count DC as a state, that includes three states (MD, VA, DC). But is this really a very large area? How large might a local call area be in LA or NY? Are all local dialing areas determined by distance, or might there be an *enormous* exchange out in Montana somewhere that includes thousands of square miles but only a few thousand people? (It would be interesting to hear about maximal sizes in terms of: area, number of people, and number of exchanges.) Wayne Folta (folta@tove.umd.edu 128.8.128.42)
pf@islington-terrace.csc.ti.com (Paul Fuqua) (04/01/89)
Date: Wednesday, March 29, 1989 12:28pm (CST)
From: folta at tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta)
Subject: How big can a Local Dialing Area be?
But is this really a very large area? How large might a local call area be
in LA or NY? Are all local dialing areas determined by distance, or might
there be an *enormous* exchange out in Montana somewhere that includes
thousands of square miles but only a few thousand people?
(It would be interesting to hear about maximal sizes in terms of: area,
number of people, and number of exchanges.)
The local calling area in Dallas includes the city itself, plus most of
the first two rings of suburbs and DFW airport. That's a rough square
25 or 30 miles on a side, so 600 to 900 square miles. Between 1 and 2
million people, more than 300 exchanges.
Also, it's all "free" -- there's no measured local service here, except
for a couple of economy and business plans that charge per-call.
Southwestern Bell keeps trying to institute time-and-distance charging
for local calls (ie, message units), but the PUC keeps shooting them
down.
Paul Fuqua pf@csc.ti.com
{smu,texsun,cs.utexas.edu,rice}!ti-csl!pf
Texas Instruments Computer Science Center
PO Box 655474 MS 238, Dallas, Texas 75265pda@gatech.edu (Paul Anderson) (04/05/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0121m05@vector.UUCP> pf@islington-terrace.csc.ti.com (Paul Fuqua) writes: > Subject: How big can a Local Dialing Area be? >The local calling area in Dallas includes the city itself, plus most of >the first two rings of suburbs and DFW airport. That's a rough square >25 or 30 miles on a side, so 600 to 900 square miles. Between 1 and 2 >million people, more than 300 exchanges. Hmmm. In this light, I think that the Atlanta calling region -may- be larger geographically (and I will take a stab at a population for that region to be around 4 million people). The Atlanta local calling area extends from about 20 miles on one side of the 'perimeter' to 20 miles out on the other side. The I285 ('perimeter') is conservatively 20 miles across. This yields a diameter of 60 miles or ~ 2826 sq miles. Now, while you are all coughing, I have made calls this distance regularly and drive to these locations to do business! I searched the phone book for a listing of the exchanges and was unable to find anything. There are, however, 400 private residence listings per page in the phone book for all 2004 pages of it yielding a total of 801,600 residence listings. If the average household headcount of 4 per holds, then this bears out an estimate of about 4 million people in the metro area. The business section averages 350 listings per page for 700 pages for a total of 245,000 *listed* lines. The real number is at least probably double that, but more likely triple that, so lets say business lines account for 600,000 more. That yields a total of 1.4 million lines. This results in 495 lines per sq mile. Big area, but not real dense like in New York City. Paul -- Paul Anderson gatech!stiatl!pda (404) 841-4000 X isn't just an adventure, X is a way of life...
klb@lzaz.att.com (K.BLATTER) (04/06/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0115m05@vector.UUCP>, folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) writes: > a local call to anywhere in a 500-square-mile area. If you count DC as > a state, that includes three states (MD, VA, DC). > But is this really a very large area? How large might a local call area be > in LA or NY? Are all local dialing areas determined by distance, or might > there be an *enormous* exchange out in Montana somewhere that includes > thousands of square miles but only a few thousand people? To my knowledge, the largest (in terms of square miles) local dialing area in the United States is the Big Island of Hawaii in, of course, Hawaii. It is roughly 4900 square miles in size. Both New York City (212) and Los Angeles (213) are "full". This is the reason that new area codes have been spawned off of them. These areas have the most numbers assigned to them. (Also, Chicago (312) is probably in the running. As I mentioned earlier, the Big Island in Hawaii has the largest geographical area 4900 square miles. Kevin L. Blatter AT&T - Bell Labs Disclaimer -- These estimates are my own and have nothing whatsoever to do with my employer.
brent@gatech.edu (Brent) (04/07/89)
I am told that the Atlanta, GA area is the largest local-call
area in the US. From end to end it's an approximate circle, with
a radius of about 50 miles. A few years ago, Southern Bell tried
to introduce metered service, billing by the distance of the call.
The hue and cry was great. It was promptly shelved.
brent laminack (gatech!itm!brent)trev@gatech.edu (Trevor Zion Bauknight) (04/11/89)
I read somewhere that Atlanta, GA has the biggest Local Dialing Area in
the country. Of course...you can't believe everything you read...
-Trev
--
Trevor Zion Bauknight Clemson University - Clemson, South Carolina
"walking down the mystery road ...{backbone}!gatech!hubcap!trev
following the light that shone" "You connect the dots..."scott@dtscp1.UUCP (Scott Barman) (04/13/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0129m03@vector.dallas.tx.us> klb@lzaz.att.com (K.BLATTER) writes: >In article <telecom-v09i0115m05@vector.UUCP>, folta@tove.umd.edu (Wayne Folta) >writes: >> a local call to anywhere in a 500-square-mile area. If you count DC as >> a state, that includes three states (MD, VA, DC). >> But is this really a very large area? How large might a local call area be >> in LA or NY? Are all local dialing areas determined by distance, or might >> there be an *enormous* exchange out in Montana somewhere that includes >> thousands of square miles but only a few thousand people? >To my knowledge, the largest (in terms of square miles) local dialing >area in the United States is the Big Island of Hawaii in, of course, >Hawaii. It is roughly 4900 square miles in size. When I moved to the Atlanta Metro area, the Southern Bell representative told me that the Atlanta area is the second largest "toll free" calling zone in the United States. From what I understand, the Georgia Public Service Commission refuses to listen to reason when trying to change the way rates are charged (as it is I pay over $25 for service before long distance charges are added and the only "extra" I have is touch-tone service). My question is where is the largest? I think the woman at SoBell ment the number of available phones that I could call toll free when the statement was made (I don't know, just an impression). If so I think it would be interesting to find the largest. -- scott barman {gatech, emory}!dtscp1!scott
johnw@gatech.edu (John Wheeler) (04/16/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0133m08@vector.dallas.tx.us> hubcap!trev@gatech.edu (Trevor Zion Bauknight) writes: > >I read somewhere that Atlanta, GA has the biggest Local Dialing Area in >the country. Of course...you can't believe everything you read... > Well, those of us who live here may tend to be boastful (grin) but we DO have over 6 inches (of phone book, thick, that is) in two white-page and two Yellow Pages volumes, weighing in around 12 pounds. What's metered service, anyway? (hee hee) I have heard rumors of another area code for us, which we currently share with the rest of North Georgia... -- Turner John Wheeler E N T E R T A I N M E N T ...!gatech!nanovx!techwood!johnw Networks Techwood Library * home of Superstation TBS * TNT * TBS Sports